NLRB’s Flynn Urged to Quit After Fresh Ethics Allegations

May 2 (Bloomberg) -- Republican National Labor Relations
Board member Terence Flynn should resign after the inspector
general found fresh ethics breaches he said are a serious threat
to the agency, Democratic Representative George Miller said.

Flynn distributed non-public information, including an
early draft of a board decision, to a former member of the
agency for personal gain, according to a report from the agency
watchdog released today by Miller.

“The inspector general’s findings leave me without
confidence in your ability to successfully execute the duties
for which you have been appointed,” Miller of California,
senior Democrat on the House Education and Workforce Committee,
wrote in a letter to Flynn.

The watchdog’s allegations today and in a March 19 report
add to criticism of the board, which mediates disputes between
labor and employers. President Barack Obama in January appointed
Flynn, a Republican, and two Democrats when the Senate wasn’t in
session, bypassing confirmation and triggering legal challenges
from Republicans.

Flynn, while chief counsel to a Republican member,
improperly gave a draft of an unpublished board decision and
dissents in three cases to Peter Schaumber, his NLRB boss until
August 2010 and now a labor adviser to Republican presidential
candidate Mitt Romney, according to Inspector General David P.
Berry.

‘Deliberative Information’

“Nothing in Mr. Flynn’s performance standards authorize
the release of deliberative information,” Berry said in a
memorandum. Issues identified in the two reports “evidence a
serious threat to the board’s” decision making, Berry said.

Flynn’s actions weren’t illegal and didn’t have any effect
on board decisions, said Barry Coburn, a lawyer for Flynn. There
are no statutes that bar sharing information with a former NLRB
member, he wrote.

“There is no shred of evidence indicating that any attempt
was made to improperly influence any board decision,” he wrote
in a letter to Berry. “Rather, the evidence shows that Mr.
Flynn was simply discussing issues of mutual interest with a
former close colleague.”

Flynn said he had done nothing improper and rejected an
earlier call from the AFL-CIO labor federation to resign.

Political Campaign Laws

A report on Flynn’s actions was sent on April 3 to the U.S.
Office of Special Counsel, which investigates violations of laws
barring government workers from using their jobs for political
activities. Berry cited communications to Flynn after Schaumber
became co-chair of Romney’s labor policy group.

Information also was shared with Peter Kirsanow, a former
NLRB member working for the National Association of
Manufacturers, Berry said.

Flynn “knew, or should have known, that he had a duty to
maintain the confidence of the information that he received in
the performance of his official duties,” Berry said in a March
19 memorandum. He “lacked candor” during an interview March
15, Berry said in the March report.

The AFL-CIO, the nation’s largest labor federation, has
urged Flynn to quit.

NLRB Chairman Mark Pearce, a Democrat, said he takes the
allegations seriously and is considering a response.

“They raise questions of ethics and trust that go to the
heart of the values shared by all of us at the NLRB,” Pearce
said today vin an e-mail.